<Service name>
Policy Number <number>
Link to CCQA
Principles Family Day Care Quality Assurance (FDCQA)
Quality Practices Guide (2004) – Principle
4.6 /
Outside School Hours Care Quality Assurance (OSHCQA)
Quality Practices Guide
(2003) – Principle 7.1 /
Quality Improvement and Accreditation System
(QIAS) Quality Practices Guide (2005) –
Principle 5.1
This service is committed to child protection and child safe
environments.
A child is any persons aged from birth to eighteen years (UNICEF).
The Child Protection Policy:
·
reflects the service’s philosophy, which can
include values, ethics or code of conduct for management, staff, carers,
children, families, students, volunteers and the community;
·
establishes the procedures for child protection
matters including identifying, documenting, reporting and managing concerns or
incidents;
·
maintains procedural fairness and natural
justice concepts in all circumstances;
·
identifies safe protective behaviours for all persons
who access the service’s premises, facilities and/or programs;
·
abides by federal and <state/territory>
legislation;
·
defines the appropriate direct or indirect
physical contact between children and adults in the service;
·
identifies and details the procedures when an adult
harms a child; a child harms another child; or an adult harms another adult in
the service;
·
details complaints, grievances and disciplinary
procedures;
·
demonstrates a commitment to ongoing professional
development for staff/carers;
·
identifies support and counselling services or
agencies for all stakeholders, including strategies to deal with the media; and
·
reflects relevant
licensing requirements, for example staff/child ratios.
In addition:
- <Service name> has a duty of care to ensure
that all persons are provided with a high level of safety and protection
during the hours of the service’s operation.
Services
may also indicate how children are protected when the service is not operating.
For example, the service may have closed for the day but parents and children
are still using the car park.
- It
is understood by staff/carers, children and
families that there is a shared responsibility between the service and all
stakeholders that the Child Protection Policy and procedures are accepted
as a high priority.
- In
meeting the service’s duty of care, and
legislative requirements outlined in <title of the relevant state or
territory legislation> that the management/coordination
unit staff and staff/carers
implement and adhere to the service’s Child Protection Policy, and ensure
a level of safety and protection to all children who access the service’s
facilities and/or programs.
- Services
may be required, in some states or territories, to report suspect
incidences of child abuse or neglect to an authority as outlined in
mandatory reporting regulations.
The rationale represents a statement of reasons
that detail why the policy and/or procedures have been developed and are
important to the service.
Please refer to:
·
Community and Disability Services
Ministers' Conference (2005). Creating safe environments for children:
organisations, employees and volunteers: national framework. Retrieved January 18, 2007,
from http://www.ocsc.vic.gov.au/downloads/childsafe_framework.pdf
These are examples. Services are encouraged to develop and
adapt the following strategies and practices as required to meet their individual
circumstances and daily practices.
Risk management plans
- Identifies,
evaluates and plans strategies to minimise the risk of children coming
into harm,
being abused or neglected by a parent, employee, volunteer or another
child.
A code of conduct
- Communicates
the values and attitudes of the service’s stakeholders on the issue of
child protection and child safe environments.
- Establishes
informed and best practice expectations.
- Identifies
appropriate and inappropriate behaviours and language.
- Guides
the service and its stakeholders’ expectations regarding attitudes,
responsibilities, behaviours and partnerships.
Privacy and data protection
- Identifies
the service’s obligations to comply with confidentiality and privacy
legislation.
Participation and empowerment
of children
- All
forms of abuse are a symbolic representation of ‘power’ and of the
offender’s need to control. The promotion of children’s participation in
the development of child safe strategies and policies is a beneficial step
in creating child safe environments.
- The
service may decide to identify children’s peer group leaders who can
assist in policy development and be considered in decision making
processes.
Inclusive
and empowering language
- The policy and procedures language should
reflect an understanding of diversity and inclusion. In some cases, it may
include child friendly and/or appropriate terminology that encourages
school age children to actively take part in policy development and
review.
- The service may define and describe the
‘common’ or colloquial language children use in everyday speech which may
assist staff/carers when developing inclusive strategies with children. In
particular, school age children often use words out of context which may
confuse the adult listening to children’s conversations. For example, ‘sexing’
can be used by some school age children to mean ‘kissing’: the sentence
‘he was sexing me’ could be interpreted by a staff/carer as a sexual act
when the intent of the sentence may mean ‘he was kissing me’.
Child protection
awareness programs and plans
- Illustrates
the service’s commitment to implementing best practice plans and learning
strategies for children through individual and group experiences.
- For
example, empowering children to speak out or disclose information through
awareness programs that encourage children and adults to discuss what is
‘safe’ and who may be a ‘safe’ person to talk to.
Employee recruitment
and selection
- Identifies
the procedures for selecting and recruiting staff/carers and volunteers
that are either in direct or indirect contact with children.
- Identifies
the selection criteria that maximises the protection of children from
potential harm, abuse or neglect.
- Identifies
the need for a criminal history, national police or ‘working with
children’ check.
- Details
the protocols and procedures for a recruitment interview.
- Reflects
natural justice, procedural fairness and equal opportunity obligations.
Job descriptions or
duty statements
- Provides
a clear, professional understanding of the expectations and accountability
of staff/carers, students and volunteers.
- Describes
daily tasks and responsibilities.
- Identifies
supervisory roles and responsibilities in the service and who has contact
with children.
Staff/Carer
support, supervision, performance review and professional development
- Provides an opportunity to identify
individuals’ attitudes, expectations and values in the workplace.
- It is a legitimate avenue to address the
professional and personal partnerships between staff/carers, volunteers,
families and children.
- Displays the service’s commitment to
professional development and ongoing training in child protection issues.
Grievances and
complaints management (including disciplinary proceedings)
- Grievances
and complaints procedures reflect fairness and natural justice concepts.
- There
are clear definitions that identify the differences between complaints
handling and disciplinary procedures.
- This
can be linked to the service’s Grievances and Complaints Management
Policy.
Support agencies
- The
service can identify the support, guidance and education opportunities for
stakeholders when developing child protection policies and practices.
- It
is important to remember that support agencies can provide training
opportunities to services dealing with child protection issues.
Protective behaviours
and practices
Staff, carers,
students and volunteers as role models
- Children
learn through example and role modelling is an important strategy in teaching
children about protective behaviours.
- Staff/carers, students and volunteers comply with
the Child Protection Policy and additional legislative or regulatory
requirements: <identify the relevant state or
territory legislation and licensing regulations>.
Communication with different stakeholders
Children
- Brief
and concise detail of the service’s strategy.
Families
- Brief
and concise detail of the service’s strategy.
- Child
protection behaviours and practices and child safe environments are outlined
in the Family Handbook, enrolment forms, newsletters and excursion
permission forms.
- Child
protection and safety information will be displayed on noticeboards.
- Families will be encouraged to implement the
service’s child protection behaviours and practices when engaged in
service experiences and excursions.
For
example, parents who are volunteers may need to have a ‘working with children’
check as outlined in relevant state or territory licensing regulations, or
professional best practice standards.
Staff/Carers
- Brief
and concise detail of the service’s strategy.
Carer's family
In family day care schemes, coordination
unit staff and carers need to consider the role of the carer's family in
ensuring that children are protected from harm or abuse. The family day care
scheme has a responsibility to ensure that, prior to placing children in care,
all adults who reside in the carer’s home have undertaken a ‘working with
children’ check from the relevant state or territory. The coordination unit
staff and carers also have a duty of care to communicate regularly with families
about the:
- scheme's commitment to the protection of children, which is
detailed in the scheme’s Child Protection Policy and procedures;
- carer's family's responsibilities in relation to the scheme’s
procedure; and
- scheme’s expectations of carer’s family members in a positive home
environment.
The scheme can describe its procedures in
relation to when a child witnesses abuse, harm, violence or inappropriate
behaviours in a carer’s home. For example, a child witnessing a domestic
violence scenario between a carer and their partner is being confronted not
only with a violent act but is being placed emotionally and mentally (and
possibly physically) at risk. It is important to remember that inappropriate
behaviours can include when children are exposed to television programs, computer
games, print media, music or language that promotes violence, intolerance or
harm of a person in a sexual, physical or emotional nature.
This subheading can be linked to the Overnight
Care section in the service’s Rest and Sleep Policy.
Management/Coordination
unit staff
- Brief
and concise detail of the service’s strategy.
- Brief
and concise detail of the service’s strategy.
Excursions
- Brief
and concise detail of the service’s strategy.
Community
- Brief
and concise detail of the service’s strategy.
- The
service will review the Child Protection Policy and procedures, and
related documents, including behaviours and practices every <timeframe>.
- Children
and families are encouraged to collaborate with the service to review the
policy and procedures.
- Staff/carers are essential stakeholders in the
policy review process and will be encouraged to be actively involved.
The following are examples of procedures that a service may employ as part of its practices.
Examples:
- Documenting and reporting suspected child abuse or
neglect, including the procedures for reporting to a regulatory authority
or external agency.
- Employee induction procedure.
- Planning, implementing and evaluating an
effective child protection and safe environment awareness program for
children and families.
- Policy development and review procedure.
- Procedure for handling complaints against a
staff, carer, student, volunteer and/or visitor.
- Procedure for non-compliance of the Child Protection
Policy and procedures by a:
- child;
- staff/carer;
- parent or family member;
- student/volunteer; or
- visitor.
- Procedures for supporting an individual
returning to work after a false allegation.
- Procedure and support mechanisms for
children, families and staff/carers when an allegation is made.
- Student and volunteer induction procedure.
The service may further specify tools that assist in
measuring the effectiveness of the policy.
The following are a list of
examples:
- Confidentiality
and privacy
- Employment
of child care professionals
- Enrolment
of new children and families to the service
- Grievance
and complaints management
- Hygiene
and infection control
- Illness
- Occupational
health and safety
- Staff/carers
as role models
- Supervision
- Supporting
children’s individual health needs
Sources and further reading
- Community and Disability
Services Ministers' Conference (2005). Schedule: Guidelines for
building the capacity of child-safe organisations. Creating safe environments for children: Organisations, employees
and volunteers: National framework. Retrieved January 18,
2007, from http://www.ocsc.vic.gov.au/downloads/childsafe_sched01.pdf
Policy created date <date>
Policy review date <date>
Signatures <signatures>